Washington non-compete law makes most restrictions on where you can work after leaving a job difficult to enforce. Under Chapter 49.62 of the Revised Code of Washington, which took effect January 1, 2020, a non-compete binds you only if you earn above an annually adjusted income threshold, your employer gave you the full terms in writing no later than when you accepted the job, and the restriction lasts no longer than 18 months after your employment ends. Miss any of those requirements and the agreement is void. A worker harmed by an unenforceable non-compete can recover actual damages or a statutory penalty of at least $5,000, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees.
The Income Threshold That Voids Most Non-Competes
A non-compete is automatically void if you earn less than the state’s minimum threshold. For 2026, an employee must earn more than $126,858.83 per year for the agreement to be enforceable.1Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Higher Wages, New Tower Crane Rules in Store for 2026 The Department of Labor & Industries recalculates this figure every year by September 30, adjusting for inflation using the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners.2Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 49.62 – Noncompetition Covenants
The earnings that count are your annualized compensation from the employer trying to enforce the agreement. If your pay fluctuates, the employer has to show that your annualized earnings exceeded the threshold. Fall below the line and the whole non-compete is void, regardless of what you signed.
Your income is tested at the moment enforcement is attempted, not just at hiring. Workers who signed when they were well above the threshold should check the current figure if their pay has dropped since.
Written Notice Before You Accept the Job
Even if you earn above the threshold, a non-compete is void unless your employer followed the disclosure rules. The employer must provide the full terms in writing no later than the time you accept the job offer. A non-compete handed to you on your first day, slipped into orientation paperwork, or buried in a handbook you receive after starting is unenforceable.3Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 49.62.020 – Noncompetition Covenants Requirements for Enforceability
If you don’t meet the income threshold at hiring but might later, the employer has to specifically disclose at the time of the offer that the non-compete could become enforceable in the future as your compensation rises. Without that advance warning, the clause cannot be revived when you cross the threshold.3Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 49.62.020 – Noncompetition Covenants Requirements for Enforceability
A non-compete presented after you’ve already started working needs independent consideration, meaning something new and meaningful such as a raise, promotion, or bonus. Simply keeping you employed does not count. Many post-hire non-competes fail at this step: the employer slides a new agreement across the desk with nothing attached to it, and the clause is unenforceable from the start.
The 18-Month Ceiling on Duration
Washington law presumes that any non-compete lasting longer than 18 months after your employment ends is unreasonable and unenforceable. A court or arbitrator starts from that presumption, and the burden shifts to the employer to justify a longer restriction.3Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 49.62.020 – Noncompetition Covenants Requirements for Enforceability
To overcome the presumption, the employer must present clear and convincing evidence that the extended duration is necessary to protect its business or goodwill. That’s a high bar. General competitive concerns are not enough; the employer needs to point to something specific about your work or the information you had access to. In practice, agreements with durations of two or three years are routinely struck down.
Garden Leave Pay After a Layoff
If you lose your job in a layoff, your non-compete is void unless your employer pays you while the restriction is in effect. The payment must equal your base salary at the time of termination, reduced by whatever you earn from a new job during the restricted period.3Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 49.62.020 – Noncompetition Covenants Requirements for Enforceability
This forces a real economic decision on the company. If your non-compete lasts 12 months and your base salary was $150,000, the employer is on the hook for up to $150,000 (minus your new earnings) just to keep you from competing. Many employers decide the restriction isn’t worth the cost.
The protection applies specifically to layoffs. The statute does not require this payment when an employee is fired for cause or resigns voluntarily. If you quit, the employer can enforce the non-compete without paying you during the restricted period, assuming every other requirement is met.
If You’re an Independent Contractor
Independent contractors face a separate and much higher income threshold. For 2026, a non-compete is only enforceable against a contractor whose earnings from the company seeking enforcement exceed $317,147.09.1Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Higher Wages, New Tower Crane Rules in Store for 2026 Below that mark, the non-compete is void from the start.4Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 49.62.030 – Noncompetition Covenants Independent Contractors
Only your earnings from the specific company trying to enforce the restriction count, not your total income from all clients. A freelancer earning $400,000 across ten clients isn’t bound by a non-compete from a client that paid them $50,000.
Watch for misclassification. If a company labels you an independent contractor to dodge the lower employee threshold but actually controls when, where, and how you work, you are likely an employee under Washington’s common-law agency test. That reclassification drops the applicable threshold from $317,147.09 to $126,858.83 and can expose the company to additional penalties.
Out-of-State Employers and Choice-of-Law Clauses
Employers sometimes draft non-competes requiring that disputes be resolved in another state or under another state’s laws. Washington blocks that tactic. Any clause requiring a Washington-based worker to litigate a non-compete dispute outside Washington is void. The same is true for clauses that apply another state’s substantive law or that strip away the protections of RCW 49.62.5Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 49.62.050 – Noncompetition Covenants
This matters most for workers at companies headquartered elsewhere. Even if your employment agreement says “governed by the laws of Delaware” and “all disputes in Delaware courts,” those clauses are unenforceable for non-compete purposes if you work in Washington.
What Isn’t a Non-Compete
Washington defines a non-compete broadly as any written or oral agreement that prevents a worker from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business after leaving a job. Several related agreements fall outside that definition and are not subject to the income thresholds or disclosure rules:
- Nonsolicitation agreements that prevent you from recruiting your former employer’s employees or customers. Customer nonsolicitation clauses must be limited to relationships you personally developed and cannot last longer than 18 months.
- Confidentiality agreements covering proprietary information or trade secrets.
- Invention assignments that determine who owns intellectual property you create on the job.
- Non-competes tied to the sale of a business or ownership interest.
If a clause is labeled “nonsolicitation” but actually prevents you from working in your field, a court will look at what it does rather than what it’s called.6Washington State Office of the Attorney General. Noncompetition Covenants: Frequently Asked Questions
Agreements Signed Before 2020
RCW 49.62 applies retroactively to all proceedings commenced on or after January 1, 2020, regardless of when the non-compete was originally signed. If your employer tries to enforce a pre-2020 non-compete today, the agreement must satisfy every requirement of the current law, including income thresholds, disclosure rules, and the 18-month cap.2Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 49.62 – Noncompetition Covenants
One limitation: you cannot sue over a pre-2020 non-compete that the employer isn’t actively enforcing or leveraging against you. If the old agreement is sitting in a file and nobody has mentioned it, there’s no cause of action. The moment your former employer sends a cease-and-desist letter, threatens litigation, or contacts your new employer, the full protections of RCW 49.62 apply.
Penalties and How to Push Back
A worker harmed by an unenforceable non-compete can sue and recover the greater of actual damages or a $5,000 statutory penalty. On top of that, the employer must pay the worker’s reasonable attorney fees, expenses, and costs. The fee-shifting applies even when a court partially enforces or rewrites the non-compete rather than throwing it out entirely, so employers can’t avoid the penalty by arguing the clause just needed a trim.2Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 49.62 – Noncompetition Covenants
The Washington Attorney General can also bring enforcement actions on behalf of aggrieved workers, which gives workers a path forward even without hiring a lawyer individually.7Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 49.62.080 – Violation of This Chapter Relief Remedies
Fee-shifting changes the math for both sides. For workers, challenging an illegal non-compete becomes financially viable because a prevailing worker doesn’t absorb their own legal costs. For employers, enforcing a borderline non-compete is risky because losing means paying both sides’ attorneys. If you’ve received a demand letter about a non-compete and any of the requirements above look off, that leverage is yours.